One of the most important things about hiking is simple… take one step at a time. A mountain can look impossible and intimidating to climb from a distance, yet just taking one step at a time gets you to the top. You also need to pace your self, stop and rest when necessary. There are other kinds of mountains we face in life. The Mountains of Fear, Doubt, Discouragement, Difficult Situations, etc…Are you stuck at the bottom of the mountain and paralyzed with worry, not knowing what to do next? Let me encourage you to simply take the next step, one at a time. Don’t be obsessed in your thoughts about how much further you have to go, just take the one step at a time. Jesus said…” Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (Matthew 6:31)

Another important thing to remember  is that God is with you each step of the way. I really like what Chuck Smith says about this, “We have a tendency to measure the obstacles before us by our on ability to climb them. And that is reasonable if we are the ones who’ve do the hiking. But that is  the wrong measuring stick if God is the One who is going to handle the mountain for us. Difficulty must be measured by the capacity of the agent handling the task. If God si the One tackling the mountain, the word ‘difficulty’ has no place in the equation. As He said,’Behold, I am The Lord. Is there anything too hard for Me?’ (Jeremiah 32:27). We must learn to look at situations, not in the light of our strength, but in the light of God’s strength.”  Some other encouraging thoughts: 

 “The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.” – Habakkuk 3:19

“God arms me with strength, and He makes my way perfect. He makes me surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights.” – Psalm 18:32-33 (NLT) 

“God doesn’t promise to eliminate challenges; instead, He promises to give us strength to meet those challenges. If He gave us no rough roads to walk, no mountains to climb, and no battles to fight, we would not grow. He does not leave us alone with our challenges, however. Instead He stands beside us, teaches us, and strengthen us to face them.” – Life Application Bible

Happy Trails…See you at the “Top” of the Mountains…as we take One Step at a Time…